\chapter{Case Studies and Examples}
\label{sec:case-studies}
\section{America's Army}
\label{sec:case-studies-americas-army}
America's Army is a project invented, launched, and maintained by the U.S. Army.
It is a multiplayer first-person tactical shooter game that was intended to bring the
American army experience closer to children. It's original release was in July 2002, and
two sequels have since been released. The government spends around \$2.5m a year on development of
new features and missions, keeping the game up to date. New missions implemented usually resemble
real-world situations that the Army has to deal with in current conflict zones around the world.\\

As the game was published, it's original purpose was to be a recruitment and propaganda tool\cite{nieborg04}.
As first-person shooters are a favorite leisure activity with male teens, the game manages to target
exactly the audience the U.S. army needs for their recruitment.
Players could experience a virtual reality environment similar to the real-life experiences
of soldiers of the modern world. Using the gaming environment, players are motivated to
consider joining the U.S. military branches as a career. It's success is apparent, early
figures provided by the Army state that 28\%\ of all visitors to AmericasArmy.com continue to click
through to goarmy.com, the official recruitment page of the government. As the game is available for
free for anyone, it is wildly popular, with roughly 500,000 recorded downloads within the first days of the
original version being available.\cite{brian02}\\

\begin{figure}[H]
	\label{fig:statistics}
	\begin{center}
		\includegraphics[scale=0.6]{images/americas-army.jpg}
		\caption{America's Army In-game Scenario}
	\end{center}
\end{figure}

The original game version is made up of two parts:\\

The first part is an multiplayer first-person shooter, somewhat resembling the popular game
Counter-Strike. However, much time and effort was spent to make the game as realistic as possible,
ranging from muzzle escape velocities of bullets to increased pulse rates of the player's character
after a dash to cover and it's subsequent impact on rifle fire accuracy.\\

The second part consists of a player's profile, which reflects his or her performance in the game.
Players can play single- and multiplayer missions, and based on their performance, they gain points
in categories such as honor, loyalty, and courage. Players can level up their virtual ingame persona
to gain a higher rank, reflecting rank structure of the actual U.S. armed forces.\\

Furthermore, players must complete basic combat training to unlock weapons, ammunition types, and equipment
that can be used during play. To be able to specialize in a class role in America's Army, the basic
combat training must be completed. Training missions are generally designed to prepare players for
real combat training in the U.S. military.\\

After the game was released, other U.S. government agencies started showing interest in America's Army
as a training tool for their personnel. For example, the U.S. Secret Service is using an adapted version
of the game to school their agents to deal with situations that are otherwise hard or expensive to
replicate in a real-world training scenario.\cite{curt05}\\

%Possible relationship between recruitment and Iraq/Afghanistan wars?

%America's Army Citations:
%http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/19/news_6124594.html
%http://www.americasarmy.com/realheroes/
%http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/08/27/11936-history-of-military-gaming/
%http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DE1330F932A25754C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&&scp=1&sq=wardynski&st=cse
%http://www.gamespace.nl/content/ISAGA_Nieborg.PDF

\section{Darfur is Dying}
Darfur is Dying\cite{did06} is a serious browser game with focus on education and humanitarian aid, released in
April 2006. The game is about the crisis in Darfur, western Sudan. It's main purpose is to bring attention to
a genocide of the modern world that is still ongoing. The game consists of two levels that serve the purpose of
enabling a village under siege of the janjaweed militia to survive for 7 days.\\

In level one, the player must choose a family member to go forage for water. One must use the selected
villager to run and find the well while evading militia jeeps that occur periodically, and then bringing
the water back to the village. If the selected character is captured, the player may select another family
member and try again.\\

In level two, the view switches to an isometric top-down view of the village. The player has to use the
water fetched in level one to irrigate crops and create bricks used to build demolished buildings. The ultimate goal
of the game is to supply the village with sufficient food and water for 7 days while keeping all structures
intact and health levels high. Periodically, the janjaweeds will visit the village to destroy buildings,
steal food and water.\\

\begin{figure}[H]
	\label{fig:statistics}
	\begin{center}
		\includegraphics[scale=0.6]{images/darfur-is-dying.jpg}
		\caption{Darfur Is Dying: Village View}
	\end{center}
\end{figure}

Throughout the game, the player is educated about the humanitarian impact of the guerilla conflict in Darfur.
When one mouseovers a question mark, popups describe what happened to characters in the game, based on
what happens in Darfur every day.\\

The game is meant to educate the player about the ongoings and background of the war, to motivate them
to educate oneself further about the issue. Links are provided to 'Take Action', by sending a message
to the U.S. government, join the movement, or donate money. \cite{parkin06}\\

%Darfur is Dying Citations:
%http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/i_darfurisdying_pc
%www.darfurisdying.com

\section{SCVNGR + fourSquare}
fourSquare is an online platform that presents users the ability to automatically broadcast their
current whereabouts and give other members tips regarding each location. fourSquare is a relatively
new concept, as it is used primarily with mobile smart phone devices with included GPS functionality.
It has not spread very far in Europe and has reached the highest saturation in the major cities of
the U.S. fourSquare is often used in conjunction with SCVNGR, which enables business owners to create
content for users.\\

fourSquare/SCVNGR awards players points for "checking in" at locations. Businesses that participate with SCVNGR
have a website and can create achievements for players to unlock to gain further points. Other ways
to earn points include spending time at locations or beating preset location challenges. Each user has
a profile that can be linked to commonly used social networking platforms which displays earned
points and achievements to friends, possibly creating a sense of competition.\\

Furthermore, players that visit a location more frequently will rank up with that location until the
highest possible status, mayor, is reached. The mayor of a venue will have their profile picture featured
on the website, and possibly unlocking excluse perks through SCVNGR. Points at venues may, for example, also
be spent to unlock badges or real-world rewards such as free items or discounts on products available at
the venue.

fourSquare/SCVNGR is huge advertising platform for participating companies. Business locations can draw in customers
by advertising their participation. Players will visit locations more frequently to level up and gain more points,
increasing likelyhood that they will purchase something. Furthermore, if discounts are easily available, people
will purchase something they might not have otherwise simply because the discount is available.

\section{Virtual Peace}
Virtual Peace is a Role Playing Simulation game, developed from army training simulation games,
which allows students to assume to roles of real life organizations and co-ordinate and discuss
strategies for dealing with humanitarian disasters. The event in the game is based on Hurricane Mitch from 1998,
which hit Central America and devastated Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. \\

The game runs from on the UnrealTournament engine allowing up to 32 students to play side by side.
They take control of avatars and meet up in the virtual world to discuss how to deal with the disaster.
Challenges include to estimate emergency relief needed, to tally up rough estimates of damages,
to coordinate refugee housing, to organize logistics and distribution of relief goods, and to synchronize
all efforts and organizations handling them.\\

The game is used in a seminar offered by Duke University. By learning through the game environment,
students learn \cite{vp08} to examine the role of policy analysis in solving important social problems and to
develop the analytical and communication skills of participants in order to undertake effective policy analysis.\\

%Virtual Peace Citations:
%http://www.virtualpeace.org/aboutcourse.php 